Buying a used car is always not an easy task. In most cases, owners of used cars try to sell them when they begin to require large investments and often fail. At the same time, all the shortcomings in front of a potential buyer are carefully hidden. This also applies to cars with automatic transmission. Since the automatic transmission is a technically complex unit of a car, its repair can cost, as they say, "a pretty penny." How to check an automatic transmission before purchasing a car, so as not to be deceived?
So, you should start checking the automatic transmission by checking the condition and oil level. As with the engine, it must be clean and free of traces of metal shavings. To take a closer look at the presence of metallic impurities in the oil, wipe the dipstick on white paper. The trace remaining from the probe must be clean and transparent. It is important to know that transmission oil has a reddish tint that turns brown over time. The black color of the oil and the presence of a burning smell indicates that the oil has not changed for a long time. Unfortunately, new car models do not have an oil dipstick on the automatic transmission, so you can check the condition of the oil only at a specialized service. What to do in this case? The answer is simple - you should make a test drive.
The test drive must be carried out very carefully, because the car is still the property of another person. The first sign of a faulty automatic transmission is the delay between the selection of a gear and its inclusion. In any case, before starting the movement, the engine should warm up until the idle speed drops to 700-800 rpm. After that, you can start switching from position “N” (neutral) alternately to positions “P” (parking), “D” (drive) and “R” (reverse). All switching must occur instantly, that is, without time delays. If the time interval between switching is one second, this indicates an inadequate state of the automatic transmission. In addition, no extraneous noises and knocks should be heard from the box.
When the car picks up speeds up to 50-60 km / h, the automatic transmission must make at least two gear changes, and all of them must be soft and soundless. With excessive wear, the gearshifts are accompanied by jerks and jerks, especially when changing from first gear to second. One small nuance that you need to know about a working automatic transmission: if at a speed of 40-50 km / h you sharply press the gas pedal to the floor, the box will go into a lower gear, and the engine speed will increase. Among the problems of automatic transmissions, such a phenomenon as gear slip is quite common, in which the "sinking" of the accelerator pedal only leads to an increase in engine speed, while the speed of the car remains unchanged.
It is worth noting that certain malfunctions of the "automatic machines" may appear when the box has not yet warmed up or, on the contrary, when it has reached the optimal operating mode. This also needs to be taken into account. Although the inspection of the vehicle may be meticulous, it will help in the future to avoid a number of problems associated with unplanned transmission repairs, which are expensive.
